Similar to the tale of the Beauty and the Beast, Beauty and the Bride (BATB) will examine a relationship fraught with mistrust, deception, fear, and hopefully, a happy ending.  BeautyXposé will follow BATB as she traverses the perilous landscape of wedding-day beauty leading up to her September nuptials.  Have a question for BATB?  A topic you’d like her to cover?  A conspiracy you’ve uncovered in the Wedding Industrial Complex (WIC) you’d like exposed?  Email her at: beautyandthebride@beautyxpose.com.

There are plenty of sacrifices we women make to the beauty gods.  We forgo delicious carbs, devote hours of worship at the gym, tweeze, pluck, wax, yank, sit up, squat, wrap, oil and scrub.  This we all do willingly in the hopes and prayers that the beauty gods with grace us with their favor.

I am willing to do just about all of these things (that carb sacrifice is a sticking point…) but yesterday the beauty gods took from me something I was unwilling to give freely.  Yesterday, the beauty gods took from me my pink blackberry.

On my quest to find the best possible deal for bridesmaid dresses for my lovely ladies, we visited and called a half dozen bridal shops and boutiques.  After my bridesmaids selected their dresses, I called each of the stores and got a price quote for each dress.  The store with the lowest average dress price got our business.  Cristina’s Bridal in Andover, Mass., won our business.  They have been a true delight to work with.  Professional, polite, encouraging and helpful.  I’ve been very pleased.

When the dresses arrived at Cristina’s from the manufacturer, I received a letter in the mail letting me know that my bridesmaids had a month to pay for and pick up their dresses. Because Cristina’s is about an hour drive for most of my bridesmaids (and a four hour drive for one of them), I offered to pick up dresses for anyone who wasn’t interested in making the trek.  Four of them took me up on the offer.  And so yesterday, with one of those fabulous ladies in tow, I headed down and picked up the dresses.

They look lovely.  They’re really wonderful.  I happily carried them down to the car, hung them in the back seat, laid them out straight so they wouldn’t wrinkle, hopped back in my car, and drove home in rush hour traffic.  About 10 minutes into my drive the following exchange occurred.

THUD

BATB:  What was that?
Bridesmaid Extraordinaire (BE): What?
BATB: That noise.  It sounded like something bouncing off of my trunk.
BE: I don’t know.  Maybe a loose manhole cover?
BATB: No, it definitely sounded like something hitting my trunk.
BE:  Huh – the noise came from your open window, I’m not sure.

After another 10 minutes…
BATB: (quietly cursing) It was my phone.
BE:  What?
BATB:  The noise, the bouncing off my trunk.  It was my blackberry falling off of my roof, bouncing off of the trunk and landing in rush hour traffic.
BE:  Oh no….
BATB: (trying not to pout, cry or scream)  Yeah….

My calendar, contacts, notes, all gone.  My beautiful pink blackberry, destroyed, smashed into pieces and then run over for good measure.  And to pour salt into the fresh wound, the insurance company has my blackberry on back order until at least tomorrow.  I’m lost, quiet and alone in the world without it.  Yesterday, the beauty gods took too much.

I certainly am happy with my bridesmaid dresses, but I’d be happier if I could take a picture of them and send it on my phone…. Or post my status on facebook with my phone… Or text my friends and tell them I have their dresses… Or call my fiancé and tell him I’m running late for dinner because of traffic…  I think this is what withdrawal feels like.

What have you sacrificed recently to the beauty gods?  Was the reward worth it?